The Gazer
by HD is not High Definition
Summary: Hermione and Draco hate each other... but when they get a view of their very romantic future together, they're stunned into silence. Oneshot.


Hermione Granger cursed herself for relying too much on her inner alarm clock, as she raced to her Potions class. She had never been late for a class, not once, and it helped that her bookworm, good girl side reminded her of that, since her inner alarm clock would naturally make her body wake up. But lately… what with the pressing amount of papers and tests the professors were stressing on them, she found herself sleeping later and later every night.

Which was why she found herself awake at 8:55 AM this morning. Potions started at 9 AM sharp. She wasn't even sure if her socks matched, but she had more important things to worry about (she could just imagine Dobby squealing "Never, miss! Never is there a more important thing!"). She barely had time to brush her hair today. Although her hair had tamed down since first year, not combing it gave it a freshly bedhead look, and she was sure she was completely red in the face from her frantic running.

All in all, she must have looked like a lunatic.

She skidded to Potions class, praying, praying…

"Well… look who has finally decided to join us."

A silky voice cut into her thoughts and she cringed. She kept her head down in humiliation as Snape loomed over her, a smirk on his sallow face.

"Thought that all the years of being a know-it-all would give you privilege, did we, Miss Granger?"

"N- No, Professor, I apologize, I-"

"Enough. You arrived late. Five points from Gryffindor, and detention in my office tonight."

Hermione could vaguely hear Harry and Ron make their ways out of their seats, ready to start a loud argument, but swiftly nodded before the two boys could come to her defense.

"Yes, sir," she said respectfully, and slid to the back of the room, where there was an empty table for two. In the back, she began to fuss with her hair, trying to force the pink in her cheeks to vanish from her mad dash to class. She sighed softly, trying not to notice the stares she received from curious, confused classmates.

"_Isn't that… Hermione Granger?"_

"_Goody-Two-Shoes Granger?"_

"_The one who's always reading?"_

"_She came late? The world really is ending today."_

"_Shh! She might hear!"_

Hermione tried even harder to ignore the voices, but suddenly, the door burst open a second time. Snape's eyes flickered to the door, where an unkempt Draco Malfoy was, tie askew, his hair messily ruffled, unlike his usual slicked-back style. Snape gazed at him in silence as Draco silently slinked in, dark circles under his eyes.

Clearly, Hermione wasn't the only one who slept in. Draco's eyes scanned the class for an empty seat, and grudgingly made his way towards the one next to Hermione. She inched away from him, gulping.

"Mr. Malfoy…"

Draco turned to look at his godfather.

"Detention tonight," was all Snape simply said, and Hermione's mouth opened in surprise. She could hardly disbelieve it, since it was Snape, but the fact that he knocked off points from her, even when she came before Malfoy… it was just too unfair.

But before she could protest, the whispers increased.

"_Whoa… look at that."_

"_Malfoy and Granger both came late."_

"_And both of them look like they've just gone through the mill."_

"_You don't think…?"_

"_Whoa!"_

"_No wonder the two of them were late…"_

"_Who knew Granger was into bad boys?"_

Hermione flushed, and Draco sent furious glares to the class. It didn't help that he was forced to sit next to her, but, side by side, it was hard to miss the similarities between the two, with their unkempt clothes and tousled hair.

"Enough!" Snape's voice rang out sharply. "Class is starting now."

* * *

"That git…" Ron gritted as he dug into a plate of mashed potatoes, and Hermione didn't need to ask to know he was speaking about Snape. "Giving you grief like that, 'Mione."

She smiled. "Thanks, Ron… but I'm fine. I'll just get this detention over with, and hopefully it won't happen again."

"You okay?" Harry asked concernedly. "You've been looking really tired lately, Hermione."

She smiled at Harry as well. Her best friends were so kind. They might not have been the brightest, and although they could lose their tempers easily, there was no hiding how much they cared about her.

"It's fine," she shook her head. "I'll see you two later."

With that, she casually got out of her Dining Hall seat and made her way to the dungeons, her expression much more confident than the roiling emotion in her stomach.

* * *

"The cauldrons are to be cleaned," Snape informed them in his silky voice. "I shall be back in one hour. I shall check, of course, for traces of magic, since this is to be cleaned _by hand_."

Hermione and Draco both nodded.

Snape swept off in his billowing robes, but not before he tapped the door once with his wand, charming the door to stay locked until he returned. Hermione sighed, getting down on her knees and scraping the side of the cauldron.

"Well…"

Hermione's head snapped up to see Draco leering at her, a devilish smirk on his handsome face.

"That position suits you well, Mudblood," he grinned. "I suppose, in a perfect world, the Mudbloods and would be on a lower position than house-elves."

Hermione glared at him. _Don't rise up to it, don't rise up to it…_

"Clean the cauldron, Mudblood, you're wasting time," Draco said sharply, and made his way to the opposite side of the room, where he began to scour another cauldron as well. Hermione clenched her fists.

_I. Hate. Draco. Malfoy._

She gritted her teeth as she scrubbed unnaturally hard at some sticky residue on the inside of the cauldron.

* * *

To her surprise, they finished earlier than expected. Since Snape wasn't back, however, the door was still charmed shut. Hermione wished she had brought a book, or something to distract her mind. Being alone with Draco Malfoy while neither of them were doing anything was getting very awkward.

Clearly, he thought so as well, because he began to rummage through Snape's cupboards. Hermione gasped, scandalized.

"You can't go through the professor's storage!" she protested, but to her anger, he ignored her, and, as if to piss her off further, dug faster through his godfather's possessions.

Hermione just watched him, glaring at him angrily, as if it would get the blond boy to stop. To her surprise, he actually did.

"Well, well…" Draco said softly. "What have we here…?"

He brought out a small white porcelain bowl, mist lightly wafting from the top of the ceramic. Hermione couldn't resist her curiosity.

"Is that… a Pensieve?" she asked tentatively. Draco stared at the thing for a moment.

"No," he finally responded, too curious about the mysterious item to care that he was talking to a Muggleborn. "Pensieves glow, and look like liquid in their natural state. This looks like clouds. It's not a Pensieve."

Hermione frowned, half in annoyance that Draco figured it out before her, and half in impression. He really wasn't far behind her in grades after all. She stared at the floating substance, then let out an excited gasp.

"It's a Gazer!"

Draco turned to look at her, eyebrow raised.

"Care to explain, know-it-all?"

She ignored the jab.

"I've read about it!" she said excitedly. "It's an extremely advanced potion to make… I'm surprised even Professor Snape was able to make it."

"What's it do?"

"It basically does what a Pensieve does… except opposite," she explained. "A Pensieve lets you go back to the past and relive your memories. The Gazer… lets you see a point in time with your future."

Draco stared at her in stun, until it suddenly occurred to him why the smoky substance looked familiar.

"This… This looks like the inside of that crystal ball old hag Trelawney's got," he said slowly. It earned him a snort of laughter.

"It is."

He raised his head. "What?"

"The reasons Gazers are so hard to make are because you have to make an extremely difficult potion, and then soak the crystal ball in the potion for several months. After that, you have to break the crystal, and allow the smoke to seep out. If you've done it right, the smoke will stay in place in one bowl or container, and you can use it to see a scene in the future."

He turned his back to her, eyes gleaming.

"Well, then…"

Hermione's eyes widened, already regretting telling him so much about the powerful potion.

"Malfoy, don't you dare-!"

He was already reaching for the wisps of smoke.

"No!" she shrieked, grabbing his arm. "We'll get in trouble!"

"Bloody hell!" he snarled, pushing her away. "Don't touch me, Mudblood!"

The hurt look that flew by her pretty face was so sad, he actually felt something tug at his conscience, before clearing his throat. He shook his head.

"I'm going in," he announced in his annoyingly pompous voice, but Hermione was not to be deterred.

"No, don't you dare, you-!"

"Don't shove me, you-!"

They continued to bicker, and it was after a good hefty pull from Draco, with a stubborn Hermione attached to him, that the two of them both fell into the white ceramic bowl.

* * *

"Ugh..." Hermione opened her eyes, shaking her head. "Wh- Where am I?"

What happened suddenly flooded back in her head, and she snapped her head up with a gasp.

"M- Malfoy!" she called frantically, and let out a sigh of relief when she saw his unconscious body next to her. She whipped out her wand.

"_Enverate_," she murmured softly, and soon, he was stirring as well.

"Bloody hell, my head… Granger?"

"I think… I think we're in the future," she said nervously. "I don't know how long we'll have to stay in here though…"

"Well, where the hell are we?" Draco snarled.

The two of them finally got a look at their surroundings. They were in the living room of a plainly furnished apartment. Seeing the decorations and homey atmosphere, however, it was clear this apartment was meant for two.

"It looks like… we're at someone's house," Hermione tilted her head in confusion. "But is it mine? Or yours? Or neither?"

"Look out!" Draco hissed as the front door let out a click. Hermione shook her head.

"We shouldn't be visible to them," she gauged. "After all, a Gazer's not for time traveling; we're just viewing a scene, not physically in the time."

Draco felt slightly stupid as he waited to see who came in. To his surprise, it was Granger, but she was… older. More…developed. He had to admit, Granger turned out well in the future. She looked like she had been at some sort of dinner date, since she was wearing a flattering evening gown with sparkling jewelry around her neck and on her ears. Next to him, he could hear the younger Granger let out a soft "Oh!".

"I guess you don't turn out to be such an ugly duckling after all," he sneered. Hermione was about to hit him, but something immediately stopped her.

Or, it would be better to say, someone.

Because following future Hermione, was a very well-groomed, dashing, older-looking Draco Malfoy. Hermione's and Draco's mouths both simultaneously dropped.

* * *

"That was nice, wasn't it?" future Hermione smiled at future Draco. Future Draco grinned at her.

"I think what comes after will be much nicer," he waggled his eyebrows as future Hermione smacked his arm gently.

"Don't be a pervert," she chided, unable to stop her giggle. "We did it all night yesterday."

"Well…" future Draco smirked. "I hope you're ready for tonight, too."

Current-day Hermione and Draco looked like they were going to hurl.

"Oh, Merlin…" Draco managed to gasp. "Merlin save me from this nightmare."

"This can't be a Gazer after all!" Hermione said frantically. "It just can't be!"

"No! No! _Noooo!_" Draco screamed as he saw his future self suddenly capture future Hermione's lips within his own, leading to a very mature-looking kiss.

Future Hermione wrapped her arms around future Draco's neck, playing with the soft hairs on the back of his head, before breaking the kiss.

"Watch your hands," she mockingly lectured him. He shrugged, a smirk on his handsome face.

"Last night, I think you preferred if I let my hands do all the work," he murmured. She let out a soft giggle, although her expression soon grew serious.

"Draco," she said, leaning against his chest, her expression somewhat strained. "I… I don't know how long we can keep this up."

The smile slid off his face.

"What do you mean?" he asked worriedly. Future Hermione kept her head lowered.

"I… I still want your parents to like me," she bit her lip. "I want them to approve of me."

He fiercely grabbed her and wrapped her in his arms. "They'll have to accept you. I refuse to let you go, and I'm going to make sure they know that."

"Draco…"

"I love you, Hermione," he gently ran his thumb over her lower lip. "I love you, and I can't let you go. I'll protect you. I promise you that."

Current Draco looked like he was about to barf, while Current Hermione was rolling her eyes at the cheesiness of the whole thing.

"Draco…" Future Hermione smiled. "Come here, you…"

Soon, the two adults were involved in a very heavy snogging session on the couch, with… uh, more adult moves as well. Thrown in with loud moans from Future Hermione and grunts from Future Draco, it was starting to get very, very steamy.

Current Hermione and Draco, in the meantime, were trying desperately hard to ignore what they were seeing, by shutting their eyes and slapping their hands over their ears.

"This is a lie!" Hermione wailed. "I'm not supposed to be giving up my chastity before I'm married!"

"How could I _touch_ a Mudblood, much less sleep with her?!" Draco roared. "Come on, me! Get off of that… that… ugh, get off of her!"

"I think… that is enough, Mr. Malfoy. Miss Granger."

The two teenagers' heads snapped up at the sound of a familiar silky voice.

"Perhaps it is time we make an exit," Snape said quietly, as Future Hermione and Future Draco began to start getting a little, uh, vocal about what their body parts were doing to each other.

Hermione and Draco had never felt happier to see the Potions master.

* * *

"Well, then…"

Even Snape seemed somewhat at a loss for words, but he swiftly gestured towards the door.

"You may leave."

He began to put his items away as if he hadn't just seen his godson and one of his students' adult forms making out in their love nest in the future.

Hermione and Draco lowered their heads in shame before leaving. Snape couldn't help but to let an amused smile flit over his face when the two had left.

* * *

"We're going to pretend that never happened."

"Agreed."

For once, Draco Malfoy didn't look as pompous as usual. He looked very scarred.

"Well…good night." Hermione offered. Draco whirled away and tried to ignore the staring girl.

"…ferret," Hermione mumbled before retreating to the Gryffindor's living quarters.

* * *

_**8 years later…**_

"Draco…"

"Hmm?" Draco tiredly lifted his head off of Hermione's bare stomach. "What, 'Mione?"

"…I just remembered…. Remember back when we fell into the Gazer?"

"What's a Gazer?"

"You remember... that thing from our seventh year at Hogwarts. When we had detention with Professor Snape?"

"Oh, yeah. That thing in Snape's office."

"Wasn't… Wasn't the scene we saw…?"

Draco paused. "Then… just now… We were being watched by…?"

"Yeah."

"…bloody hell."


End file.
